The clutch in my Coupe has decided to quit releasing. I tried running the adjusting nut further in, but it seemed to only make the problem worse.

 

Any ideas? I'm not at home, have a limited selection of tools available and no good place to work on it (muddy yard).

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Will it shift without using the clutch while the car is off?

 

Any bad noises accompanying clutch operation?

It will shift with the car off just fine. No bad, interesting or unusual noises either.

 

I have limited access to a computer and the one I can use has a mighty 28.8k modem, so a bunch of searching is sort of out of the question.

 

On the (slight) upside, there is plenty of room in the back of a coupe for sleeping with the seats folded down.

How does the pedal behave? Like is it spongy? or it feels normal it just doesn't release? If there aren't any weird noises of any kind, then perhaps you just need a new clutch cable? If you're nowhere near an auto parts store maybe you could take the adjustment nuts off altogether and put some spacers of some kind, like a stack of washers, behind it and see if that will let you limp home or to the parts store.

 

Good luck!

Make sure the cable is actually moving the fork. Check the pedal end of the cable for anomalous activitiy.

 

Look down into the fork openeing with a flashlight and see if the fork has cracked or bent. It happens occasionally.

 

GD

How does the pedal behave? Like is it spongy? or it feels normal it just doesn't release? If there aren't any weird noises of any kind, then perhaps you just need a new clutch cable? If you're nowhere near an auto parts store maybe you could take the adjustment nuts off altogether and put some spacers of some kind, like a stack of washers, behind it and see if that will let you limp home or to the parts store.

 

Good luck!

 

Clutch cable is a new one from a Subaru dealer. New as in less than 6 months old. The pedal feels the same at a similar level of adjustment, firmer now that I adjusted the cone nut in quite a bit. It feels normal, no release.

 

Make sure the cable is actually moving the fork. Check the pedal end of the cable for anomalous activitiy.

 

Look down into the fork openeing with a flashlight and see if the fork has cracked or bent. It happens occasionally.

 

GD

 

The cable does move the fork. Checked the pedal end as best I could without removing the seat (I'm not exactly a svelte guy), but everything looked to be in order from what parts I could see.

 

I have been running through scenarios in my mind and I think it has to be the fork. Bent, cracked or come free of the throwout bearing.

 

 

 

 

I managed to get a ride home and a friend of mine with a tractor hauled the coupe back to his place.

 

Another question, slightly related. How far can a EA82 be flat-towed?

Another question, slighty related. How far can a EA82 be flat-towed?

 

If it's in neutral and not in 4WD you can flat tow it as far as you like.

 

But that's not neccesary - just start the car in 1st gear and power shift it - EA starters will happily overpower first gear and drag the whole car along for the start. If you match the revs it will go right into higher gears without grinding (double clutch it). I've driven many times this way - I once had the throw-out bearing lock up and wear through the pressure plate fingers on my lifted wagon. Drove it 25 miles home like that. It's a pain at stop lights since you have to do a hot restart in 1st but once you get on the freeway it's no big deal since there's no shifting.

 

GD

Thanks lostinthe202 and GD!

 

Towing it back will be no problem next week, I have a friend with a car dolly. Driving it would be problematic, since there is no straight shot with minimal shifting; it is a lot of rural roads in between the Coupe's current resting place and home. Not a big deal, though...it spurred me into working on the red wagon a bit today. Seafoam took care of the TOD, new plugs made it run a lot better. Seems to be quite road-worthy, although it needs new boots on both front axles.

I had a bushing slip out at the clutch peddle end of the cable (1986 Brat). This spread the clevis apart and left the connection pin loose at the clutch peddle. I didn't realize what had happened and adjusted the clutch up but it was still tough to shift. I even added spacers to try to get it correct but I never did get it to work properly. In the end the cable broke and then I found the problem. With the new cable and the bushing installed correctly the clutch worked fine.

 

Good luck

Paul

Probably not your problem,but I`ll throw it out there.

 

I have a BMW that will seize (rust) the clutch plate to the flywheel after long storage in a humid climate.

"Cure" is to lift a drive wheel and slam on the brakes.

My hatch had same prob, 2 different things were going on, first the cable was stretched. 2nd, the hole for the cable pin on the ped, was elongated, from exessive pressure, a bad cable that was freyed. ken.

is your avetar a picture of "che" the cuban revolutionary ?

is your avetar a picture of "che" the cuban revolutionary ?

 

Nope. It's Uncle Charlie!

is your avetar a picture of "che" the cuban revolutionary ?

 

If it was "che" he'd have a snappy hat....

You might also want to check your peddle bracket. The attachment point for my cable housing bent. When I finally find a new cable, I'm going to weld a stiffener onto the bracket in hope of it not happening again.